Retail Calls For Wii U Price Cut And New Strategy

James Batchelor: ''UK games retailers want Nintendo to revitalise Wii U sales with a fresh marketing push and a price drop.

Console sales have slowed since its December launch. Last week, it lost exclusive rights to Rayman Legends and Ninja Gaiden 3, and Activision boss Bobby Kotick said the publisher is “disappointed” in Wii U’s performance so far.

In January, Wii U’s second month on sale, the console only accounted 1.6 per cent of UK game sales. In the US, Wii U has sold 38 per cent less units than its predecessor at the same stage of its own launch.

But retailers, including members of MCV's Retail Advisory Board, have said they believe Nintendo can turn this around if the platform holder acts now.''
(Wii U)

The PS4 is about to be announced, and both the PS4 and Xbox 3 will be released this year. The Wii U, with it's crap hardware, simply cannot compete with those systems. Nintendo needs to do a price cut now to get systems out the door, they need to ensure a healthy fan base before the proper next gen systems release or they WILL be left behind. Retail chains know this, that's why their calling for a price cut. They don't want to be stuck with a product that won't sell.

Perhaps in the UK it's not unreasonable. The platform is weakest in that region in particular. I still don't think a price drop is necessary just yet, especially if the Vita has gone this long without one. Just some more games please.

The UK retailers set the price tag here in the UK. They are the ones charging UK consumers £10 more than PS3/360 for the games. What they are asking for here, is for Nintendo to drop their price (therefore losing more money) while it doesn't effect their profit margins.

Typical UK businesses. Ripping people off. If they want to cut Wii U's price, then they have more than enough room to do so. The burden shouldn't fall onto Nintendo.

I'm guessing that's what I received 8+ disagrees for? Because I do think a price drop would be necessary in that region at least. Didn't know the retailers were that sketchy with prices though. How long has that been a common occurrence?

The WiiU is far far too expensive, there is no way Nintendo is making a loss with those specs & a cheap low resolution resistive tablet controller added on. It needs to be 199 pounds to make significant inroads in the UK.

Nintendo love to suck money that's why they selling their junk on high price and about the specs that's why they didn't tell anyone what the specs is but no one can keep the secret when the console is already out

Nintendo are a great software company, but with the WiiU they are being cheap & it shows. Poor resolution on the tablet, terrible specs (nevermind graphics, no ethernet port!) & the online side is a mess. Nintendo have brought this mess on themselves.

Considering the Gamepad is going to retail for $150 I think they are losing money. The PS3 and Xbox 360 sell for roughly $200-$250 and the Wii U has better specs in some areas.

What Nintendo should do to counter all the hype about the upcoming PS4 and Xbox 720 is to drop the price a few months before those systems launch, not now. That way they will have a better idea of their pricing. You can't counter those hardcore gamers who will buy the new systems no matter what but you can try and convince those siting on the fence.

I'm not attacking you, but you're wrong on a number of counts. Firstly, controllers are massive money makers for console companies, If European/Chinese companies can make tablets that cost £50(around $75) & make a profit with RAM, CPU, higher resolution etc, then it's definitely not costing Nintendo more than £30 ($45) to make.

Secondly, it may have slightly better specs than the older consoles, but newer, higher spec chips are probably just as much to buy. Nintendo seem to have focused solely on energy efficiency rather than specs (a massive mistake this time round). Under your logic, the PS4 should cost $2000.

There is also technology that the PS3 and Vita combo represent and that in itself would cost well over the price of the Wii U. Yes the Vita is more portable but there is an added cost indeed to have that feature built into every Wii U.

There really is no benefit for the analysts nor Nintendo to suggest they are losing money when you suggest they aren't. They have to show financial reports on all of this stuff. There are also added costs to manufacturing, shipping and so on.

Vita. But then, Vita is a handheld, WiiU is Nintendo's flagship console. Hardly comparable. It's quite bad that it can't really pull ahead of Sony's "bye product". I can see the cry for a price cut when the numbers actually drop below Wii sales...

It's because things can only go down from here if you take into account how sales are this time of year.

The launch and holiday period has passed which is why it dropped from selling 450K in December to 57K in January in NA. It's not going to magically get better in the coming months and the fact that it's game lineup is barren means things are going to get pretty ugly if they don't do something quick.

@darthstewie The Vita will probably get a price cut first because its been on the market longer than the Wii U. However if any of the other next gen systems are priced at a similar level as the Wii U Nintendo will pull a 3DS and drop the price.

My only question is if Nintendo will offer an ambassador program for the Wii U or some other sort of compensation for such a sudden price drop.